Avengers’ out on DVD

Thursday

Sep 27, 2012 at 6:00 AM

By Rob Lowman LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

as judged by the box office — and some critics were thrilled with “Marvel’s The Avengers,” I found the blockbuster only somewhat entertaining, and maybe that was because we have been bludgeoned repeatedly by loud, boring, take-themselves-too-seriously superhero movies.

Credit writer-director Joss Whedon with injecting some wit into the story, which had been teased over and over in earlier Marvel-inspired movies such as “Captain America.”

Oh, and there are some extraterrestrials on the way to destroy Earth — or at least New York City — for reasons that escaped me even as I was watching the film. Admittedly, I didn’t really care. And when stuff started flying around in the Big Apple, I got distracted in trying to remember how many other films had tried to destroy the “city that never sleeps,” to quote Frank Sinatra.

Occasionally, some of these good actors get to interact in an amusing way, but that quickly takes a backseat to all the mayhem.

Partly because Hiddleston is a terrific actor and partly because he is the one real villain, Loki is the only interesting character in “The Avengers.” Maybe Marvel should make him a hero.

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In “American Horror Story,” creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk turned their “Glee” formula inside out. The first season of the FX series — which at its heart is a haunted-house story — had similar results. At times it was clever, entertaining and compelling and sometimes it was too cute for its own good — only instead of story lines about teens who can sing, it involves psychosexual weirdness.

Good cast, though. The tale begins with the death of twin boys in the 1970s in a Los Angeles-area house.

Years later the Harmons, looking for a deal, move in after leaving Boston. Mom Vivien (“Friday Night Lights”’ Connie Britton) is getting over a stillbirth. Her husband, psychiatrist/college instructor Ben (Dylan McDermott), is caught having sex with one of his students. And their teen daughter, Violet (Taissa Farmiga), is just angry, and that’s before the nightmares start.

Jessica Lange, who received an Emmy nomination, is just plain creepy as a neighbor with a grown daughter with Down syndrome.

Season 1 is available on DVD, but since “American Horror Story” is an anthology, you don’t have to watch it to prepare for Season 2, which begins in October.

The series is a bit ridiculous — fun, bizarre, eye-rolling. You’ve been warned.